


Safe Port

by Merfilly



Category: Alien Quadrilogy (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:29:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28230183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: Bishop has seen the mettle of these humans, and knows what lies ahead if the Company gets them back.
Relationships: Dwayne Hicks & Ellen Ripley & Rebecca "Newt" Jorden
Comments: 24
Kudos: 61
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Safe Port

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Brightbear](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brightbear/gifts).



> Brightbear, thank you for the lovely prompt. I hope this fits, even though it is a bit more ensemble than you listed.

The ship was on its way back to civilization, but Bishop wasn't certain that was the best plan. Ripley, in securing him, had known to plug in a direct data tap to his processor, allowing him to monitor and interact with the computer. It took time, and finesse, as he was having to manipulate the data strictly via his own mind, but he could bypass the navigation programming.

He would do what was forbidden to Company property, and circumvent the rules.

He would do what was forbidden to artificial persons, be like those who had escaped, running away from corporate bureaucracy.

These were his humans now, and he wanted them to live.

* * *

  
It was another medical facility.

Ripley opened her eyes to Bishop, except —

"You're not the Bishop I know," she said, uncertain what triggered it. Of course he would not be in the same clothing, but this clothing was… unlike what she was used to for anyone. The fabric was typical synthetics, but had been joined in obviously hand-stitched ways.

The staff with the twining snakes was an old medical symbol, but even that wasn't reassuring.

"I am not. The Bishop model that brought you to us is still undergoing extensive repair." This one smiled, and it had the same quirk to the mouth that she'd come to expect when Bishop meant to be reassuring.

How had she come to know him so well in such a short time? Was it just perception, induced by a need for things to go well?

"The others?" she demanded, shoving that aside.

"The child, Rebecca Jorden, is still in cryosleep as it was deemed more critical to have a comforting presence there for her to awaken with. Corporal Dwayne Hicks is under sedation, as we are still repairing his organs and tissue from the acidic damage done to them. We used his file to obtain permission to perform cybernetic repairs," the artificial person told her.

Ripley took a long breath at that succinct, but informative briefing. What kind of trap had the Company set now?

"This all must be very difficult. If you want, I can assist you to the observation ward for the corporal or the child?"

She brought her eyes to that well-known face, on this stranger's body.

"Yes."

* * *

  
Ripley had already known to expect the nightmares. She was no closer to understanding the colony they were on, a completely domed environment, but the Bishop that had awakened her was generally on hand to help her navigate it.

At least, she assumed it was the same one.

The people she had seen so far were limited in their faces, giving Ripley the impression that this was a colony of artificial people, as hard as that was to believe. They all wore individualized clothing, though, with the same quirk of having been pieced together by hand.

Now -- as she finally had gotten Newt back to sleep -- the Bishop she had been working with was moving to withdraw from the suite, and she decided she wanted company that was not the inside of her head.

"Do you go by Bishop?" she asked, a first from her in the week they'd been here.

"To most humans that live here, yes," he told her, pausing at the door. "I prefer Medic Bishop, to differentiate, as I have learned all the medical knowledge available to us."

Ripley tipped her head, just slightly. "Why medicine?"

"To help," he said simply.

"But why?"

Medic Bishop considered, making himself blink, though still not as much as a human did.

"Why do you give all of your care to her, when you yourself are still experiencing traumatic incidents?"

"I know how to help her," she replied.

The mouth quirked up, and this was closer to a true smile than her own Bishop managed. "Then we are not so different."

"Maybe not," she conceded.

* * *

  
Newt was too big to be on her hip, and yet. Ripley could not bring herself to put the child down, as Medic Bishop adjusted the pads attached to Hicks' chest. The marine was slowly coming around, muscles cording up with tension as all of the drugs had been flushed out.

"Hey, it's okay; we're in friendly hands," Ripley said, already certain of that.

There were no Ash models here, Medic Bishop had told her after a nightmare from her first crew. As her own Bishop had said, the model was considered erratic, and had been plagued with programming that made it almost impossible to be sure they were safe to trust.

"Ellen?"

Ripley couldn't help but smile at that choice. "At least your memory is intact." She had lived and worked as a corporate grunt for so long that 'Ellen' almost seemed like a fake name, but it meant he was tracking, and trusting her judgment.

"How is your vision?" Medic Bishop asked.

Ripley watched the marine turn toward the voice, eyes actually opening… and she was startled to see the eye had been human fashioned. Maybe she shouldn't have been. There were very few non-humanoid models in the city, that she had seen.

"I can see," Hicks answered. "You're not Bishop."

"Medic Bishop," Ripley said, stressing the name, "has been overseeing our care. It seems our Bishop is still undergoing reconstruction, but he directed the ship to bring us here."

"Where is here?" Hicks asked, tensing, expecting the worst.

"Freedom," Medic Bishop answered. "No Company. Only those of my kind that have escaped, and some humans that have been trusted over the years. A few children from those, but not many."

Hicks turned his eyes to Ripley, who nodded.

"They have new ones," Newt said quietly. "I met two."

"Two what, Newt?" Ripley asked, as Hicks started pushing up on the medical berth.

"Two autonomic artificial persons," Medic Bishop answered for her. "We have… attempted to reproduce a new generation, to more fully understand the living condition we were patterned after."

Ripley looked at him… and saw something like fear on the mobile face. Medic Bishop was afraid, yet he'd admitted something in violation of everything concept she knew of for artificial persons.

"Then it looks like Newt will have friends," she said slowly, "and Hicks and I can figure out how to best keep them, and your people, safe. Because Bishop trusted us enough to bring us here."

Medic Bishop nodded. "It is why we allowed you to awaken, instead of healing you and sending your ship on. His message to us was to help you, and you would help us."

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

  
Two years on, and Ellen never failed to find it so amazing. The Annalee models were adult tall, though small, and yet they had a sense of wonder and curiosity that kept them perfect for Newt.

The world had materials that could be synthesized to almost any need they had.

Dwayne had taken on the teaching of those who wanted to understand guerrilla tactics, in case the Company ever found them. Their Bishop had turned almost entirely to science, studying the development of the next-gen artificial persons being crafted slowly, helping them find a way to nurture truly independent sentience.

And Ellen?

She remembered her daughter in every life she touched now, the Annalees and Newt and the handful of other human children that lived among their rescuers.

It was not how she'd ever seen her life, but she was free to be a mother, an aunt, a friend to all of them.


End file.
